Hottie host hot

Blogger Zach Bussey has accused the Toronto Sun of content theft following  Mike Strobel's federal election hottie column today.

Bussey, host of an ongoing Canada's Sexiest  Election Candidates poll, says while Strobel mentioned his name in the column, links to his blog - swingcatproductions.com - were not provided in print and online. 

He tells blog visitors:

"If you haven’t seen it, check it out! An article in today’s Toronto Sun takes content + inspiration from our little contest but doesn’t provide any link to us. He does admit in it that he’s seen Canada’s Sexiest Election Candidate polls, but only in passing does he give “Zach Bussey” a mention."

So Bussey fired off this email to the Sun:

"Hello Toronto Sun,

"I’m issuing a complaint regarding your article today in the Toronto Sun by “writer” Mike Strobel. The article in question is “Mike’s Hot Picks for the Election”.

"The article in question is, essentially a direct theft of content from my website.

"In the article, Mike Strobel goes so far as admitting that he’s seen my website by mentioning “blogger Zach Bussey’s excellent online poll.” This is all well and good to have included my name in the article, but without providing a link where people can view the original, let’s call it “inspiration”, it can only be considered content theft.

"Considering this is my content and no link was provided, I’m asking for half of Mike Strobel’s paycheck this week. Wild request huh? Well if I’m going to be providing content to your writers, I should be paid for being a writer.

"Canada’s Sexiest Election Candidate has been featured in over 40 news publications, tv stations, radio channels and other media in the past week. This was a direct ripoff to gain some of the attention I’ve earned."

Strobel's reply:

“Zach. I’ve asked our website guys to link to your site. As I said in my column, I think you’ve done an excellent job. Your site was one of the sources of candidates’ names for me, especially for the guys, but just one of the sources. Sun Media colleagues across the country contributed most of the names. However, I agree, a link is a good thing. So, it shall be done. Cheers."

And, online, it was done.

But, says Bussey:

"A link has been included on the web version. While a good start, this doesn’t provide a link to the 150,000 print versions they sell daily! I’m still insistent that I deserve financial compensation for my hard work, but this is a move in the right direction."

Financial compensation from Sun Media for original blog content?

Dream on, Zach.